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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23699818">Nightswimming</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceans_Away/pseuds/Oceans_Away'>Oceans_Away</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Nightswimming [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Lore Olympus (Webcomic)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Implied Sexual Content, Office Party, Romantic Fluff, Sneaking Around, Swearing, Unrequited Crush</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 18:40:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,843</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23699818</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oceans_Away/pseuds/Oceans_Away</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermes finds Megaera crying over her crush at an Underworld office party and takes it on himself to cheer her up. As they keep talking late into the night, they realise how much they have in common and feel closer to each other than they expected.</p><p>Chinchela and Diz put together a wonderful video project for this fic! Stroooong recommend you check it out <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izJ-mBB_MeQ">here</a>!<br/>And please go show these stars some love!<br/><a href="https://www.instagram.com/chinchela_art/">chinchela_art</a><br/><a href="https://www.instagram.com/hi.im.diz/">hi.im.diz</a><br/><a href="https://www.instagram.com/mythisamirror/">mythisamirror</a><br/><a href="https://www.instagram.com/ziminigimi/">ziminigimi</a><br/><a href="https://www.instagram.com/parts.of.arts/">parts.of.arts</a><br/><a href="https://www.instagram.com/just.an.awkward.person/">just.an.awkward.person</a><br/><a href="https://www.instagram.com/anglejonesmae/">Angle Jones</a><br/><a href="https://www.instagram.com/thegaychat.art/">TheGayChat.Art</a></p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Hermes/Megaera (Lore Olympus)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Nightswimming [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2268929</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Nightswimming</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“I have an extremely important question for you. A question that will define this night in memory for years to come.”</p><p>“Ask me. I’m ready.”</p><p>“How drunk are you right now?”</p><p>Hermes had his hands planted firmly on Thanatos’ shoulders. Thanatos swayed a little, and his eyes were glassy. Hermes could feel it in his palms, the opportunity.</p><p>Thanatos squinted at him. “Definitely drunker than I should be this early in the party,” he said. At least, that’s what he meant. What he said was “DefnydurnkerthanIshdbdiserlypart”.</p><p>But Hermes got the gist. “That’s very good,” he said with a smile breaking in the corner of his mouth. This was why he bothered turning up to these dismal Underworld another thousand souls processed office parties. “You know what this means.”</p><p>Thanatos squinted harder.</p><p>“Chairlympics.”</p><p>Thanatos gasped. “I DO know that!”</p><p>Hermes clapped his shoulder. “We both know it, my wasted friend.”</p><p>He started to steer Thanatos towards the door, but Thanatos dug his heels in and ruffled his feathers. “Wait,” he whispered, very loudly. He subtly nodded over Hermes’ shoulder. Actually, he leaned dramatically to look round Hermes and nearly fell over. “Hecate,” he slurred.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“I’m afraid of her, Hermes.”</p><p>Hermes patted Thanatos’ arm. “I know you are, man. You go get the chairs, leave Hecate to me.”</p><p>Thanatos tapped the side of his nose and tried to wink, blinked dottily, and swaggered off to the door, his bun askew. Hermes snickered and rubbed his hands together and bounced through the polite mingling, snatching a shot from a passing tray, downing it and tossing the glass behind him to land on another tray. Hecate was talking to Hades and Persephone. She adjusted her glinting cufflinks, and Hades leaned a little awkwardly with his elbow on a shelf, trying as usual to compress his height next to the petite prettiness of Persephone.</p><p>“Boss! And boss! And intern!” Hermes reached them with a huge grin on his face.</p><p>Persephone beamed.</p><p>“Hermes.” Hecate looked suspicious. “You look like you’re having fun. I’m worried.”</p><p>“No worries, boss, just a great party. Another thousand souls! How do you guys do it?”</p><p>Persephone gave Hades an encouraging look. Hades let out a small smile and rubbed the back of his neck. His tie was loose. Excellent, also drunk.</p><p>“It’s a team effort.” Hecate said with stiff grace.</p><p>“Yeah, totally.” Hermes waved that away. “But hey, you’re the experts.”</p><p>“I… suppose.” Hecate’s cogs were turning.</p><p>“So,” Hermes said quickly, “I wanted to ask you, the experts, about a thing I’ve been wondering about for a while.”</p><p>“Of course.” Hades said.</p><p>“We only work with human souls.”</p><p>“Right.”</p><p>“But, as tonight shows, we’re a strong enough team to explore expanding. So, I was thinking.” He fixed his eye on Hades. “Should dogs have an afterlife in the Underworld?”</p><p>Hades’ attention snapped immediately to Hecate. “I’ve been thinking about that too!”</p><p>Persephone gasped and clapped.</p><p>Hecate’s yellow eyes turned waspish. “Yes, Hades, I know you have. We have talked about this a few times now.”</p><p>“But…”</p><p>And Hermes’ work was done. He exchanged a subtle wave with Persephone and slinked from the conversation as tipsy Hades got to reason number three of, honestly who knows how many, why dogs should be counted as complex souls. Hecate glared up at him over her red wine and ground her teeth around the words “administration” and “metaphysical minefield”.</p><p>“I’ve bought us a good hour!” Hermes announced, skidding into the corridor where Thanatos was spinning in a wheeled desk chair next to another empty one. “They can argue that question ‘til they’re blue in the face.”</p><p>“Aaaayyyyy!” Thanatos fired finger guns and nearly spun off his seat.</p><p>Hermes hooted and leapt into the other chair, gliding a few feet with his ankles kicking. Thanatos skated after him, shuffling his feathers out of the way of his arms as he gripped the sides. “Usual rules?” he asked.</p><p>“You mean,” Hermes pointed his body like a hawk, “NO RULES?” And he launched forward.</p><p>“What? Fuck!” Thanatos flapped furiously, and they raced through the corridors, the chair wheels shrieking as they picked up speed. Hermes’ heels blurred as his little wings propelled him forward, battering on the chair legs with the sound of a deck of cards shuffling. He spread his arms and caught the sharp corner wall to swing round and swoop down the next corridor, keeping his arms out and whistling in triumph. Thanatos scooted behind him, his wings warring with the back of the chair and his shiny shoes kicking uselessly to round the corner. “Fucking cheat!” he hollered after Hermes.</p><p>“What’s that?” Hermes called back. “Can’t hear you from all the way up ahead!” He took another corner, smacking the wall with his palm.</p><p>Thanatos charged after him, Hermes’ hair streaming in his line of vision like a red flag to a bull. The stale office air whipped up around them, as they left grazes in the carpet. The familiar rush was in the soles of Hermes’ feet. Thanatos caught up to him at the end of the corridor, and with a clumsy lurch bashed his chair into Hermes’ just as Hermes caught the corner wall for another tight spin. The high speed turned the impact into canon-fire. Hermes’ chair jolted and was thrown sideways, scattering god and chair onto the floor with a hard thud and rattle. He tumbled into a heap, and Thanatos cackled and skittered round the corner. Hermes rolled onto his back with a groan. “Now who’s the fucking cheat!” he yelled down the hall.</p><p>“No ruuuuuules!” Thanatos’ high, victorious voice vanished round the next bend.</p><p>Hermes flexed his smarting arm, testing where he’d crash-landed. It still moved and everything, so no time to worry about that crack he heard! He scrambled up with a wild laugh and was pulling his fallen steed back on its feet, when he heard something. A quiet, strained, sputtering noise. Was that… was someone…? He looked round and saw a door ajar just behind him. He flicked his heels to straighten out his wings and crept to the gap to peek. In the Underworld’s eerie, dark light he saw the domino stacks of the city’s towers through the vast glass outer wall. Silhouetted against them, perched on the table running down the centre of the meeting room, was a small, plump figure, her shoulders bunched and quivering and her glossy hair writhing. She sat with her back to him, and the quiver in her shoulders trickled down to her dim reflection in the table, making her look like she was rising from a black pool. Hermes felt the echoes of laughter in his chest die away. He strained his ears. She was definitely crying. He opened the door a crack more and slipped inside, moving silently. He took a few paces in, but she didn’t react. He hung back. He suddenly wasn’t sure what to do with his hands. He put them in his pockets.</p><p>“Oh, yeah,” he ventured, “Meeting Room 8 does this to people. It's like... the saddest meeting room.” He tried a smile. She half-glanced round, but didn’t turn enough to look at him. Her head drooped. He continued, “Personally, I think it should be cordoned off. For all our safety.” He smiled broader this time. Still nothing. He pressed his lips together. Her crying had quieted since he’d announced his presence, but it was still snuffling on. He felt a pang somewhere around his sternum. He picked up his feet and walked round the table to stand beside her, ducking his head to try and catch her eye. “Hey, Megaera, these are the jokes.”</p><p>Several dark, shining eyes lifted to him. Megaera’s violet cheeks glistened with tears and her snakes curled around each other framing her stricken face, weeping too. Hermes wasn’t sure if it was normal for snakes to cry, so he figured she must be really upset. He pushed up a smile again.</p><p>Megaera felt herself shrinking back. The brightness of Hermes in the dark room was like a lightning strike. He stood with one leg cocked and his hands in his pockets, pushing his jacket open and pulling his collar down. His wild hair spilled over to one side as he peered at her like a magpie. She met his unabashed gaze, and her cheeks prickled. She hastily looked away and dragged the heel of her hand across her eyes, sniffing back a fresh wave of tears.</p><p>“What’s up?” he asked gently.</p><p>She felt sick. “Nothing.”</p><p>“Oh.” He raised an eyebrow and stood straight. “My mistake.” He made a show of starting to turn, “I’ll leave you to keep enjoying the party.” He took a couple of steps and leaned back round. “That was another very good joke. I’m obviously not leaving you to cry in here like a dick.”</p><p>“I’m not crying,” Megaera said thickly, looking resolutely away.</p><p>Hermes made an unconvinced noise in his throat. He spun on his heel and took a long stride back to her, spun again and perched beside her, crossing his ankles out in front of him so his wings furled along his calves like lily leaves. He bent for her eyes again. “Ok.” he said “What are you not crying about?”</p><p>Megaera’s arms were bare in a pink dress that puffed like a peony around her lap. Hermes had sat so close the frills of it dusted his thigh. So close she could feel a little heat coming off him on her skin. Olympians ran so warm. She tucked her arm in tight. “It’s stupid.” She said to the floor.</p><p>“I don’t really know anyone who not-cries for smart reasons.” He shrugged.</p><p>She felt a rolling behind her eyes. She blinked furiously, but it only drew the tears out and squeezed them down her cheeks like she was juicing pomegranates. “It’s…” She hesitated, trying very hard not to say anything, but she was so full, so bursting with it, the not-saying pressed painfully on her airways. “I have feelings for someone. And he’s here. He’s here with the person he likes. And it’s…” She swallowed a sob. “It’s really hard to watch.” The sob bobbed back up and spilled out in a choking noise. Her cheeks burned.</p><p>Hermes bit his lip. “Who?” He blurted, then rolled his eyes at himself.</p><p>Megaera opened her mouth. No sound came out. She curled her fists on her skirts and opened her mouth again. “Hades.” It escaped her in a whisper.</p><p>“Whoah!” Hermes barked, then sobered. “I’m sorry, that’s… ouch.”</p><p>She wheeled to look at him like she’d been slapped.</p><p>“Not because you couldn’t get Hades!” He gabbled. “But just, you know, he’s very… he’s a generally difficult guy… and also… hard to read. So, who knows, right? And therefore… ouch.” He bit his lip again and looked away.</p><p>“It’s really ouch.” Megaera squeaked through a shaking rasp of more tears. She wrapped her middle and hunched over, screwing her face up against the ache of crying.</p><p>“Oh, shit, I’m really sorry, Megaera.” Hermes hastened. He looked down at her. The dress left her upper back bare and the snakes were all coiled high off her neck. A few pinpricks of cold light from the windows of the buildings opposite winked on her skin, the slightest hint of scales gleaming across her shoulders like threads of crystal through dark rock. He reached out impulsively and laid his hand on her back, feeling the quakes go through her and rubbing softly to still them.</p><p>Megaera tensed at his touch. Then she let her muscles relax, dissipating the tight trembling. She breathed deep and slow, her back shrinking from and rising into Hermes’ hand. She focused on its heat, let it absorb her, let it drag the sensation from the ache behind her eyes until the urge to cry faded away. She blew out in exhaustion and her cheeks puffed up like plums. “Why did it have to be him?” She sighed, “Why couldn't I have a huge crush on, I don’t know, Thanatos? Or you?” she said it without thinking then immediately sucked in her lips and froze.</p><p>Hermes took his hand from her back. The patch where it had been cooled and tingled. He leaned back with a lazy roll of his shoulders and a cocky toss of his hair. “Yeah if you want to be basic, everyone has a crush on me.”</p><p>Megaera snorted, and he narrowed his eyes. She looked away guiltily and petted the snake that was peeking round her face to peer at him. “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised at myself. I’ve always been a bad picker,” she continued glumly. “Well, not a bad picker, an unrealistic picker. Why can’t I just -” She halted, looking down at their feet. “Are you wearing sneakers with a suit?”</p><p>Hermes blinked. “Well, I tried wearing them with shorts, but Persephone wouldn’t let me.”</p><p>Megaera giggled quietly. His scarlet sneakers were fraying at the tops where his wings rubbed. The long, white feathers stirred like cotton grass. She heard a rustle and looked back up to see Hermes chewing, a garish green and purple packet in his hand. “Are those gummy ghosts?” she asked, perking up.</p><p>Hermes held out the packet of squidgy skeletons and shades.</p><p>“Did you sneak these out of the party?”</p><p>“No,” he said. “I snuck them into the party. I hate canapes. Want any?”</p><p>Megaera smiled and reached into the packet. She tried to take one but a melded clump came out. “These have melted a bit.”</p><p>Hermes grinned, white on red. “I’m hot stuff.” He nudged her, and it dislodged another giggle from her belly. Hermes kept grinning round the sweets, “What actually is a canape?” he asked.</p><p>Megaera groaned. “Food that’s too small. I’m so hungry.”</p><p>She fished out another clump, tickling his palm through the bottom of the packet. They chewed in silence and looked out of the huge window. The glass flared with the strange colourless glimmer of the Underworld sky, the immense buildings great vertical ravines of blackness, scarred with flashes of neon blue like copper chloride flames. They both reached into the packet and their fingers tangled.</p><p>“I’m sorry.” Megaera whipped her hand back.</p><p>“Sorry.” Hermes ducked his hand in and plucked a lime green skull with a goofy, dripping grin. He held it out for Megaera. She smiled, retreating back shyly and reaching out to take it. He popped it into his mouth and stared her down gleefully. Her pansy-petal mouth dropped open in surprise, then puckered into bubbling laughter. Hermes felt himself echoing her. He pulled his eyes from her mouth and dipped into the packet again and plucked another skull. He pushed it to her lips. Her violet cheeks darkened a shade, but she tipped forward the tiniest bit and nipped the sweet from between his fingertips. They dusted her lip as he lowered his hand. Their eyes met, his almond and bright, hers large, round and shining like dark wine.</p><p>Hermes cleared his throat and broke her gaze. He spoke cautiously, “If you were feeling so bad, why did you come? And why didn’t you go home?”</p><p>She sighed and went back to gazing into the fizzes of turquoise in the darkness, reflecting lavender in her pupils like asteroids in a nebula. “Oh, I don’t know, I wish I hadn’t now. I think I just wanted to prove to myself that I could. And then I couldn’t. And then I didn’t go home because…” she struggled for words, “I guess… this is so stupid… I guess there was part of me that was curious to see if he would come find me if I disappeared, if he even looks at me often enough to notice when I stop being there.” Her voice faded, “But he didn’t. He doesn’t.” Her snakes coiled tightly and hid their faces. “That’s so embarrassing.”</p><p>Hermes’ chest tightened, and he looked at her softly. “No, I get that.”</p><p>She glanced at him, frowning, “Do you? I feel…” she struggled again and huffed in frustration, “Invisible. Everyone knows you, Hermes, you couldn't possibly know what that's like.”</p><p>His shoulders bunched defensively. “I mean, I do a bit. You don't get a lot of attention if you hang out with Apollo.”</p><p>Her frown smoothed and she looked at him properly. His hair had drifted into his eyes and shadowed the angle of his jaw. A fine line of muscle in his neck had risen up with the bunching of his shoulders. She sucked her tongue, then said very quietly, “Well, for what it's worth, I think you're better looking than Apollo.”</p><p>“So do I!” He burst out with another volcanic grin. “Hey, good taste gang.” He raised his hand. Megaera blinked at it, then patted his palm timidly. “We need to work on your high-five.” He laughed and kept grinning at her. It was like watching a firework. He was so vibrant in the dim room. She felt exposed, illuminated, like by smiling at her he could see all the details in her skin. Why was this getting to her? Why was he still smiling? How long had she not been saying anything now? She should probably say something. Something less embarrassing than telling him he was good-looking. Oh gods, she’d actually said that. Her fingers prickled where they’d touched the heat of his palm. She still wasn’t saying anything. <em>Say something you goofy gorgon! </em></p><p>“Hermes!” They whipped round to the door. Thanatos’ slurred calls were advancing down the corridors.</p><p>“Oh shit!” Hermes snickered. “I left him wheeling round the building on his own!” He stared like a trapped hare at the door, the smile dancing round the corners of his mouth. He glanced back at Megaera and the glisten lacing where the light touched her. He looked back at the door, back at her. He grabbed her hand. She gasped, and he sprang from the table and pulled her to the window and started fumbling with the catch on one long panel.</p><p>“What are you doing?” she demanded nervously.</p><p>“You can't fly, right?”</p><p>“No.”</p><p>“Ok, are you heavy?”</p><p>“Hermes!”</p><p>“Hermes!” Thanatos’ shouts were closing in.</p><p>Hermes jumped and shoved the window open. Cold, metallic air rushed them. He leapt onto the ledge, spun and shot Megaera a look of glittering mischief. “Want to get out of here?”</p><p>Megaera stood stunned. “If by that you mean, ‘want to jump out of the window’, then no, not really!” she squeaked. Her fingertips hovered lightly in his hand like a landing dragonfly.</p><p>Hermes stroked his thumb over her fingers and leaned urgently. “Megaera, we have two options here: Let Thanatos walk in on us, pretend nothing’s up, and go back to the party to listen to ten more stories about that hilarious thing Orpheus did one time. Or jump out of this window.”</p><p>Megaera glanced back at the door, and the shadow inching into it. Her heart thumped once. “Window.”</p><p>Hermes beamed and pulled her into his arms. Her stomach jumped into her throat as she was wrapped in close to him. They teetered and the street yawned beneath them like a deep sea cavern. Her scalp stung as her snakes coiled in terror. She wrenched her gaze from the drop below and looked up at Hermes. His eyes were deadly nightshade. He gripped her waist. She held her breath. He flung them backwards.</p><p>They plummeted, Hermes’ red reflection streaking down the office building like blood flow. Megaera felt like she was tearing apart in the rush. She screamed desperately, but the sound died in her mouth. The ground was shooting toward them like the sole of a boot on an ant.</p><p>“HERMES!” she screeched.</p><p>They jolted, jamming her stomach back into place, and swooped upwards, levelling up about half way down the side of the building. Megaera clung to Hermes’ shirt front, gasping for breath and shaking. Hermes scooped her up to carry her across his arms. She curled herself into a tight, trembling ball. He laughed, “So you’ve never flown before, huh?”</p><p>Megaera looked slowly up at him. She shook her head. He laughed again. She shook her head harder and recovered, then glared furiously and prodded him hard on the chest.</p><p>“It’s the kind of thing where it’s better to jump in at the deep end!” he insisted, still laughing.</p><p>“It is not!” she yapped, prodding him again. She accidentally glanced down and her gut lurched. She pressed herself to him and looped her arms around his neck, gripping the back of his collar. The stroke of her arms was almost velvet with the smoothness of her skin. She was soft. As she cuddled against him he felt a film of sweat break across his back. He scooped her a little tighter.</p><p>“Go for a ride?” he asked, his face close to hers.</p><p>She nodded, “Don’t drop me.”</p><p>“A delivery boy never drops,” he stated confidently and stepped into soaring.</p><p>They glided between the towers, streaming in the air, skating along the stillness like it was a frozen lake and the vast city just shadows under the ice. The neon lights rippled and wheeled in the hard, sleek surfaces surrounding them. The occasional apartment flickered yellow, and they glimpsed a couple drinking coffee or a fury typing on a laptop or a nymph dragging on a cigarette. The night was crisp. It cleared the cobwebs from Megaera’s head, brushed away the last of her tears and filled her up with refreshing, buoying cool. She saw their reflection misty on the plains of glass, scarlet and lilac twined together like poppy and lavender in a flowerbed. Hermes smelled of ink and sugar and flavoured vodka, sweet, tangy and clean. His hair was flying in a long brushstroke on the blackness, swept off his face. He was gazing out to the city, his teeth peeking out and his eyes sparkling. His arms were strong beneath her. His body moved like it was just another strand in the breeze. He flicked his heels and they rose higher, into the slate and sapphire sky, sliding on beams and crossing bridges of dark light, kicking up tendrils of pale mist. The city winked under their feet, a labyrinth of secret lives in the neat stacks of square apartment blocks, shadow pouring in the gaps between them.</p><p>Hermes carried them over the interlocking roofs and then sank level with the penthouses. He spied a stylish glass balcony not far below them, peppered with carefully manicured snake plants and peace lilies. He floated and his feet met the glass silently. His hair fell back about his face, and his wings stretched and furled closed. He placed Megaera down carefully. She stumbled a little and gripped the side of the balcony, looking down between her feet at the plummet visible through the floor. Her toes curled but her pulse raced in excitement, not fear. She breathed in and out slowly and beamed up at Hermes. Then she looked round nervously at the door to the dark apartment.</p><p>“We can’t be here,” she whispered.</p><p>Hermes shrugged, a glint in his eye. “No one’s home.”</p><p>“You’re sure?”</p><p>“Sure.”</p><p>Megaera gazed at the city and drank in the coolness again. “This is incredible,” she murmured.</p><p>Hermes folded his arms and leaned forward on the balcony. He glanced at her. Her snakes had all emerged, writhing as if she was caught in a spring breeze. She was flushed and standing on tip-toes to see as far as possible, her chubbiness adorably squeezed against the glass. Her pink dress was crumpled from the flight. She looked like unravelling candyfloss, like a fuchsia flower that a kid had picked and squashed in his hand.</p><p>“Do you usually dress like that?” he asked abruptly.</p><p>Megaera started and dropped back from the balcony, smoothing her layers of ruffles. She turned shy, “No. I thought I’d try it, since pink and fluffy seems to be his type.”</p><p>“Not sure it is, wasn’t he banging Minthe for like, decades?” He cursed himself as soon as he said it, seeing her mood sink again.</p><p>She flopped forward, leaning her cheek on her hand. “Yes. Her too.” She sighed through her nose. “Do you have any idea how depressing it is for there to be a love triangle around the man you're in love with and to not even be in the triangle?”</p><p>He frowned quizzically, “I mean, doesn't it just make you the triangle’s fourth point?”</p><p>She looked at him and waited for him to realise.</p><p>“Oh. Right.” Hermes scratched the back of his head. “Love square?”</p><p>“I’m not in a square,” she grumbled. “To be in a square, the other corners would have to connect with me. I'm not a love corner. I'm just somewhere way over here being a lonely love dot.” She waved her hand vaguely into the distance then slumped.</p><p>Hermes rubbed his elbow and forced his voice light, “Geometry is a bitch. I always knew math was the enemy.” He smiled at her. She looked at him flatly. His smile faltered. He leaned heavier and spoke softly to his forearms. “I actually do sort of get how you’re feeling.”</p><p>Megaera rose off her hand, her eyes round and curious.</p><p>Hermes went on, picking a thread coming loose on his cuff, “My whole life is spent in limbo. Between work and play, Olympus and the Underworld, life and death. I’m a bridge. And bridges belong to everyone and have a foot in everywhere, but they also belong to no one, just hanging in the air. Over the nothingness. And whenever I do cross into a concrete place, people are most excited to see me because I'm bringing words from someone else, because I represent someone else.” His gaze shifted sideways and met hers. “However people feel about you, Megaera, or don’t feel about you. At least it is about you.”</p><p>Megaera was taken aback. She’d never seen Hermes look so serious. His lips were tight, as if he regretted speaking and wanted to stop it happening again. He was so much taller than her, but suddenly he looked almost childlike, a little boy who had skinned his knee. She felt an ache in her chest. She took a step sideways closer to him, “People do feel about you, Hermes.” He raised his eyebrows and brushed his fringe back. She was struck by the sculpt of his face, the easy openness of his expression, and the sharpness of his jaw against the sweetness in how he held his mouth. She swallowed and pressed on, “You make people feel safe. Present. Like they belong. I spend my whole life feeling like a third wheel, or fourth or fifth. But not when you’re around. Even if we’re not talking, I always feel a bit better when you’re there.”</p><p>Hermes’ face brightened. He drew his shoulders up and gave her a lopsided smile. She smiled back. The quietness of the city was broken by the echo of a car gliding in the depths. The headlights flared under their feet. Hermes ran his hand through his hair and chuckled a little awkwardly. He swung back, hanging onto the balcony edge. “So what is it about Hades anyway?” he said casually.</p><p>Megaera twisted her fingers together. “Oh. Well. He’s intelligent, sophisticated, experienced. Kind. I think he thinks about things. I think he notices things. I think he wants to do his best at everything. I think he worries that he doesn’t.” Her voice drifted away.</p><p>Hermes nudged her. “And a nice ass.”</p><p>“I mean, yes.” One of her snakes nudged her too and she stroked it.</p><p>“He’s kind of a mess.”</p><p>“Everyone’s kind of a mess.”</p><p>Hermes rocked forward again and watched the shadows of her snakes slinking on her neck. “Are you a “messed up together” type or a “clean up the mess” type?”</p><p>She flexed her fingers out. “I don’t know.”</p><p>“I think you’re the second one.”</p><p>“Is that better?”</p><p>“I don’t think either of them are the healthiest.”</p><p>“Well…” She pursed her lips and wrinkled her nose at him. “You’re handing out melted gummy ghosts, so you can’t talk about health.”</p><p>Hermes laughed, sparks kicking up in his eyes and the sound ricocheting off the glass and rustling in the peace lilies. He reached into his jacket and produced two more contorted sweets. They each popped one into their mouth and chewed, holding each other’s gaze with a twinkle of amusement. Megaera glanced down and brushed the chin of a snake, sucking on the sweet so her mouth puckered and moved around it. It drew Hermes’ eye. His own mouth stilled and fell slightly open.</p><p>Megaera noticed. “What?”</p><p>He swallowed his sweet whole and burst out coughing. She hurried to pat his back and it thumped in his pulse. He recovered and leaned back a little into her touch as she rubbed him between the shoulder blades. Her hand was small and gentle. He cleared his throat and undid his tie.</p><p>Megaera glanced at the ruby silk of his skin as his collar wilted open. She lowered her hand away, trailing her fingers down the seam in the centre of his jacket, “Thanks for letting me talk at you.”</p><p>“It’s Ok.”</p><p>A breeze sighed through the buildings. It ruffled Hermes’ hair and glanced off Megaera’s arms, she shivered, hugging herself. Hermes instinctively slipped off his jacket and held it open for her.</p><p>“Oh no, I couldn’t take that. You’ll be cold.”</p><p>“Nah. Like I said, I’m hot stuff.”</p><p>Something fluttered in her stomach. His smile was so easy, completely without expectation or guile or uncertainty. She tucked herself into the jacket. It was big on her, encasing her in a chrysalis of his heat and his sharp-sweet scent. It overwhelmed her momentarily. She felt like he was holding her again. The image of them twined together in the glassy reflection flashed into her mind. He was desert warm, hearth warm. She slithered closer into the jacket and suppressed a soft, contented sigh. He turned her to face him and pulled the jacket straight and tugged it closed at her midriff. The softness of her belly bumped his knuckles. She looked very small in his jacket, like a pearl in a shell. Her eyes drifted down his chest. His shirt lay against his form, showing the taper of his torso, his tie draped either side of his buttons. <em>What if I undid one? Wait, what? </em></p><p>“Warm enough?”</p><p>His murmur brought her gaze back up. The blaze in his eyes had lowered to embers, his lips parted. His hands still hovered at her waist. His hips had come closer to hers. She felt her hands move to them, felt them slink a little as she curled her palms on them, one finger strumming the leather of his belt.</p><p>She took a breath.</p><p>She clamped her eyes shut.</p><p>She bobbed up on her toes.</p><p>She kissed him.</p><p>Hermes’ senses flooded. His blood rushed in his ears and her taste of wine and sugar tingled on his tongue. Her perfume was something sugary too, but darker. His fingers gripped the jacket and he pulled her into him.</p><p>Her breath caught. She dropped back onto her feet, and he stumbled down with her, breaking reluctantly. Their sharp intakes of breath lanced the silence.</p><p>Hermes broke into a broad, cherry-red grin, “I’m sorry,” he said, a chuckle threading into his voice. “Could we do that again? My eyes were closed, I missed the whole thing.”</p><p>Megaera blushed indigo across the tilt of her nose. Her face flooded with a smile and her hands splayed over his abs as he slipped his arms under his jacket, about her waist and lifted her to his lips. They kissed deeply, slowly. When they broke they didn’t pull apart, his nose bumped on hers.</p><p>“Oh no,” she whispered, “I closed my eyes that time.”</p><p>Hermes grinned like a firecracker and ducked to kiss her again.</p><p>A light flicked on.</p><p>A dog barked.</p><p>They sprang apart, wide-eyed. “You said no one was home!” Megaera hissed.</p><p>“Oops?” Hermes spread his hands. Her snakes flicked their tongues pointedly at him. He snatched her up and launched into the air, his sneakers vanishing out of sight just as the door to the balcony opened.</p><p>They arced like Eros had fired them from a bow, Hermes kicking to pick up speed. They reached the black expanse of the tower top and landed near the edge with a flick of his heels and a burst of wild laughter. He popped her back on her feet, and she stumbled backwards, bubbling, shimmering. He caught her hand and twirled her, and their laughter grew more raucous. Her snakes flailed and she pulled away to quiet them, patting them into order with a giggle still dancing on her pout. They exchanged a glance. Hermes ran his hands through his hair then put them in his pockets, scuffing his heels and peeking at her from under his fringe.</p><p>Megaera turned to the maze of tower-tops, pixelating into the dark distance. Every one of them another hundred rooms, another hundred inhabitants. “This city is so full,” she said wistfully. “So many people. Do you ever feel that when you’re carrying messages? All those lives weaving together?”</p><p>Hermes followed her gaze, then looked back at her, the corners of his mouth curled up, “Sometimes. Sometimes I ask myself, if I could be anyone of them, who would it be?”</p><p>Megaera spoke without thinking, “That’s easy, Persephone.”</p><p>Hermes’ mouth twitched flat. “Why?”</p><p>She kept looking out, her hand straying to her neck, “Because she's so beautiful.”</p><p>Hermes dug his hands deeper into his pockets and his lips tightened. “You're beautiful,” he mumbled.</p><p>She shot him a look. “You don't have to do that. I know I'm not a goddess.”</p><p>“No, but goddess beauty isn't the only beauty.” He stepped close to her again, pushing a smile back over his lips. “It's like that saying. Teach a fish to climb trees, and it will spend all its life thinking it’s stupid.” Megaera looked perplexed. He scratched the back of his head, “Wait, that's not it... if a fish can't climb trees... judge a tree in a fish pond…”</p><p>“Hermes?”</p><p>“Right, sorry.” He dropped his hand from his hair and it brushed her arm as it fell. “What I'm saying is, if you think you have to look like a goddess to be beautiful, then of course you don’t think you're beautiful. But beauty has lots of truths, lots of versions.” He shrugged. “Including yours.”</p><p>She cuddled his jacket round her and tipped into the bow of his body. “I didn’t know you were so smart.”</p><p>Hermes chuckled. “I'm a regular tree-climbing fish.”</p><p>She laughed and bumped his chest with her shoulder. “Ok, so if you could be anyone in the world, who would it be?”</p><p>“A bunny rabbit.”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“Down on earth where all the nymphs live.” He gave her a mischievous look “All I’d have to do is hop up to them and twitch my cute little nose and bam! Nymphs all over me.”</p><p>She smiled indulgently. “Foolproof.” Hermes tapped the side of his head. She nestled into his body, and he slid a hand to the small of her back. “So,” she said, sneaking a finger to circle a button on his shirt, “Which do you prefer, belly rubs or having your ears stroked?”</p><p>“Both,” Hermes husked, “Definitely both.”</p><p>She pressed her lips together and let them bloom again, lilac to amethyst. She slipped her finger into his shirt and tickled his abs, they crunched as he laughed, and as he crumpled she reached up and teased the rim of his ear. He snatched her hands and clasped them. His laughter fizzled out. “If you were Persephone, who would be Megaera?”</p><p>Megaera puffed out her cheeks dismissively. “Oh, no one, let Megaera blow away on the wind.”</p><p>Hermes frowned and ground his teeth. He gripped her hands and with a hard yank he flung them both over the edge of the building. Megaera screamed, her heart stopping and her lungs rushing, her stomach crashing into her sternum. Hermes whooshed beneath her and she thumped into his arms, scrabbling to cling onto him, “Hermes!” she shrieked, “You absolute - UGH! I can't believe you just -!” She pounded his chest with her tiny fist.</p><p>He laughed riotously and clutched her close, “See? Not so keen for Megaera to blow away on the wind, are you?”</p><p>“Not literally you - UGH!”</p><p>“Ok! Ok! Stop squirming and I can hold you better!”</p><p>She huffed heavily as she calmed and prodded his chest again. They were hovering in the midst of neon and black, casting a single serpentine shadow on a thin glimmer on the paving below. The street gaped before and behind them, stretching into the mercurial blue.</p><p>“Look at this place,” Hermes whispered. Megaera looked past the curve of his neck then back at him. “Do you ever wish it was Olympus?” She shook her head, he lowered his face closer to hers. “Do you think it's beautiful?”</p><p>She nodded. He looked pointedly at her. She took his meaning and rolled her eyes with a small smile. She looped her arms around his neck. “You know, I was going to thank you for everything this evening. But then you threw me off a building, so I won’t.”</p><p>“Fair.”</p><p>“Please don't go and be a rabbit in a field of nymphs.”</p><p>“Ok.”</p><p>“Hermes?”</p><p>“Hmm?”</p><p>She touched his cheek and twisted a finger into the hair at the nape of his neck, “Bridges don't hover over the nothingness. They fill it up. They make it into something.”</p><p>His chest rose against her. He ducked and kissed her. She ran her hands into his hair and curled in his arms. Even in the dark-water coolness of the night, he was warm. It prickled in her lips and across the back of her neck and the insides of her thighs. She broke the kiss and murmured against his lips. “Take me home?”</p><p>Disappointment flickered on his face. “Sure.”</p><p>“No, I mean, come with me.”</p><p>“Oh! Sure.” He bit his lip and his cheeks went from scarlet to crimson. They picked up the pace and soared through the streets. Hermes cradled Megaera close and stole kisses on her temple and cheek, the snakes curling out of his way. She stopped him in a part of town where the sleekness gave over to untidier stacks of smaller apartments with fluttering curtains and spidering drainpipes. She directed Hermes down to a set of railed steps leading to a plain front door. As he set her down, she kept her arms around his neck and hung on to stay tall enough to kiss him again. He stooped so she could reach. Everything was perfume and wine and sugar and the rustle of clothes and the drum of heartbeats. And then she was pulling away, letting the cold air back into his senses.</p><p>“My sisters might be home by now,” she whispered. “If you go up to the window I can let you in.”</p><p>Hermes flushed eager, then, annoyingly, felt a tinge of hesitation.</p><p>She saw it cross his face and her stomach kicked. “What’s wrong?”</p><p>Hermes took a breath, swallowing the cold, “I…” He halted and tried again, avoiding her large, lagoon eyes, his fingers fidgeting on her hips “I don’t want you to do this because you think you have to say thank you, or just to make yourself feel better about things. You said I don’t just represent other stuff. So,” He took another breath and made himself meet her gaze, “I want you to want to do this with me.”</p><p>Megaera looked into his face, still open, still guileless. She felt a warm ache spreading in her chest. She reached up and brushed the red tangle from his eyes, “I’m very good at wanting, Hermes. I know when it's happening to me.”</p><p>Hermes’ face burned, he beamed like magma and pressed his lips to her cool brow.</p><p>She slipped from his grasp to the door. “Floor six. Second from the left.”</p><p>His stomach burst into butterflies, and they carried him up into the air. He watched her disappear inside then floated higher, catching scarlet flashes of his reflection in the passing dark windows: he smoothed his hair, he straightened his shirt, he re-ruffled his hair to look cuter again. His heart was going like a kid with a toy drum.</p><p>Megaera came into her bedroom with her knees weak and her palms tingling. She pressed her hands to her face and forced herself to take one steadying breath. She didn’t really want to be steady though. She flicked on the light and there he was, sat on the ledge and leaning against the window frame, all mischief and anticipation. She hurried over and opened the window, the air rushing in and whisking her pulse faster. His hand slipped hot into hers.</p><p>“Evening, Miss.” He winked, “Special delivery.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Thank you to Myth_is_a_Mirror (AO3) for her feedback and @chinchela_art (Instagram and Patreon) for the prompt - go look at their awesome stuff!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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